Cities don't usually pop out of nowhere. For centuries, urban areas grew in incremental steps as populations blossomed and the economic climate steadily got better. Now that's changing.

Speculative urbanization refers to the fast-growing and frightening phenomenon where developments arise seemingly overnight — not in response to demand, but in anticipation of it. In places like China and India, suburban housing compounds, vanity infrastructure projects, and office parks are constructed to generate economic gains, attract urbanites, and project an image of influence and competitiveness.

Over the last six years, architect and urban designer Christopher Marcinkoski has investigated the cultural and economic triggers responsible for speculative urbanization. His book, "The City That Never Was," shows what happens when urban developers fall out of touch with reality.

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Speculative urbanization is, essentially, the embodiment of the "build it, and they will come" mentality. You might think this suggests a forward-thinking approach to growth.

But the government's population projections and economic forecasts never materialized. "The story of Spain is not the story of a few greedy developers," says Marcinkoski.

"It is the story of a widespread subscription to urbanization activities as the ultimate panacea for a country's long-standing economic and social ills," he says.

Ciudad Valdeluz, Spain, 2002.
PNOA

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Marcinkoski has explored over 50 incomplete or unoccupied developments in Spain and other parts of the world. His book is packed with aerial images like this one.

Ciudad Valdeluz, Spain, 2002.
PNOA

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They imitate the renderings you might find in marketing literature for a new complex. "You get a gauzy sense of the scale and ambition of the project without any real sense of the actual detail or texture of the place," he says.

Ensanche de Vallecas, Madrid, 2014.
Christopher Marcinkoski

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He hopes his research serves as a warning to urban planners and governments.

Alcorcón South Extension, Alcorcón, Spain, 2002.
PNOA

"Every time a major speculative event leads to unintended consequences — fiscal, social, environmental, or otherwise — the response is a collective sense of 'never again, followed a few years later by a suggestion that 'this time is different' when yet another similar project is proposed," Marcinkoski says.

It might be time for designers and elected officials to rethink how cities expand.